Sunday, July 06, 2003

Go, buy, readI spent most of the weekend at Hogwarts. When I got back I was excited to see that my old friend David Neiwert has finally finished rewriting and editing his blog series “Rush, Newspeak and Fascism” into a convenient pamphlet form. He has put a download link at the top of his page and is asking for a five-dollar donation (on the honor system). I just got my copy and have yet to read it, but if it is anywhere near as interesting and thought provoking as the original series, it will be easily worth the price.

I have to admit that I have a special attachment to this piece. I was only vaguely aware of the whole blogosphere phenomenon until David created Orcinus. Because he is an old friend I dutifully went and checked out his site so I could say something nice about. When I got there I read what he had to say. It was excellent, but I expected that. Then I clicked on a few of his links and read what they had to say. Then I clicked on a few of their links… Well, I was hooked. Within days, David started his “Rush, Newspeak and Fascism” series. In a former life, as an academic, I had studied the varieties of fascism. Like many former academics (read: grad school drop out), I sometimes feel like my head is about to explode from all of the unused and unwanted data that I carry around. Suddenly here was an opening to blther on about the thinks I find terribly interesting. And once one fact and/or opinion found the exit sign, thousands of others were lined up waiting for their turn. The only answer, of course, was to get my own blog.

In all real fairness I suppose it wasn’t really David who is responsible for me being here; it’s Rush. If he weren’t such a big, fat idiot none this would have been made necessary. So, let’s hear it for the race-baiting, misogynistic nincompoop. I owe it all to him.